I gotta nasty problem that i cant figure out.

97 LT1 trans am M6 64k miles

I took off the balancer and hub because the balancer was breakin off the rubber in the middle. needed replacin right. so I got a new balancer.........intalled the hub and threw the balancer over it. NOW...........the belts dont line up with the balancer pulley and im throwin out belts left and right.

Is there a difference from a 97 hub and a pre-95 hub???????????

It looks like the hub needs to go in the block about a 1/2 inch more to line up with the rest of the accesseries. Im usin the same hub the car came.

which way does the balancer pulley go on? if i put it in backwards.......only 2 bolts line up but the belts line up. the other way.......all 3 bolts go on easy but im off about 1/2 inch.

does anyone know anything?

 

93-97 pulleys are functionally the same, though the later model ones look a little different. 93-95 hubs are the same and 96-97 hubs are the same. 96-97 hubs (length toward the crank gear) are shorter because of the reluctor used with the crank position sensor.

 

about how much length difference is there between the hubs. 1/2 inch?

I need the hub to go in about 1/2 inch.

 

gotta pic of how the balancer looks when installed?

I wanna see which way is backward and forward.

 

Whatever the thickness of the reluctor is. Reasons it might be sticking out are if you used an earlier model hub and still have the reluctor on the crank or you did not install the hub fully.

 

im leaning more towards the earlier model hub because I have done everything to make sure the hub is goin in all the way. I threw some spacers on the crank bolt then screwed it in so it would push the hub more and its just bottoming out. the hub is hittin flush on something. I used a bigass torque wrench on it too.

 

how dangerous is it to drive with the balancer "out of balance"?

 

I wouldn't do it, mine just went and I replaced it with one from carparts.com But it was vibrating like crazy, and I would imagine it being bad for the bearings, especially reving it.
Just fyi, the balancer has the groves for the belt and a flat space on both sides, one is wider than the other. When I installed mine, the wide part faced the engine.

 

Why don't you just reuse your original balancer hub. There was really no reason to remove it, if the only problem was cracked rubber in the damper. You only needed a new damper.

 

i am usin the original hub. it was removed for the timing cover gasket.

the wider part of the pulley is facing out. like i said......i think its backwards, but thats the only way the belt will work.

u think maybe the previous owner had put in a earlier model hub?????? i bought it off this guy a year ago.

 

Can someone tell me if there is some special balancer for the 97 LT1????????????

The only way this will work is if I put the balancer backwards

I tore down the timing cover AGAIN.........and put the hub FLUSH with the crank gear with balancer on and it will only line up with the rest of the belt drive- backwards! And I can only get 2 bolts to line up with it backwards........so something has got to give.

 

uh i did some extra thinkin and im pretty sure the design on this balancer is backwards. It is a cheap aftermarket replica and this other guy had the same experience with this company.